NetWorks! Meeting …. April 29, 2009

And it does (smile). What a great meeting today! 88% attendance, a guest, and 30 quality leads/referrals/updates that have all been posted to our dynamic CRM. Life just does not get any better. As I like to say, if you can find a better B2B networking group………join it. Members in any group make the difference. Members like ours make all the difference. My hat is off to each and everyone of them. And, even in trying times like this, we are continuing to grow.

I mentioned in a previous article that I had created and posted an event in LinkedIn that invited qualified folks to attend a meeting as our guest. And, I am pleased to say, that has worked and probably better than I had anticipated. I’m building up quite a stack of names for followup. Even more interesting is that I have not yet sent out personalized invitations. That starts tomorrow. Like NetWorks!, I think that maybe LinkedIn works too (smile).

See this event by clicking here. I would like to clarify that this is an ongoing invitation. LinkedIn makes me set a specific date. In order to participate, your business must be B2B and your services may not compete with any of our existing members. If you are B2B but your service does compete, I would still like to speak with you. Please read on.

Ultimately, I expect to have our present group filled out in the next month or two. At the same time, I had lunch with a client recently who has encouraged me to start a second group so that he can join in. As you may know, membership in NetWorks! is limited to one member per industry. Furthermore, this client has other folks in his circle that would also like to explore a new group. If you have an interest in NetWorks!, but it is determined that your services compete with an existing member, I would like to speak with you about the possibility of the new group which will follow a format identical to that of our current meeting but will likely be a Tuesday Breakfast Group.

Well, it’s been a long day today so I am going to run. You all take care and thanks for visiting!

Craig

LinkedIn, Twitter, Face-To-Face – Who’s The Boss?

It’s a tug of war. All these mediums are vying for your attention and, at the same moment, for a piece of your valuable time. So, how to they stack up? Who’s the boss and, for that matter, the boss of what?

I’ve been studying these three networking tools for a few months now and have come to some preliminary impressions. Like the weather, these too may change (smile). I’ve arbitrarily established what I consider to be 8 major segments of any successful networking  effort and this is how I see LinkedIn, Twitter, and Face-to-Face shaking out. Please keep in mind that my focus is Business-Social Media, not Social Media. I evaluate these tools as they pertain to business use and specifically in a B2B environment.

1. Create “top of mind awareness” and branding: Not much contest here. No other medium can seem to reach so many people as quickly and consistently as Twitter. However, much of that will depend on your number of followers and their willingness to re-tweet your message. Whether or not they even see your message is a limiting factor. LinkedIn does have certain advantages, however. Updates to your profile and discussions that you start in groups are sent to your network in the form of emails which get more personal attention. LinkedIn’s static, yet dynamic, format promotes a consistent message that you will not find in Twitter. Still, edge goes to Twitter.
2. Establish your credentials without meeting face-to-face: Hands down, LinkedIn. A 24/365 resume that is always there and for everybody to find and to see. There will be some that might disagree and promote Twitter to this position. I would not be one of those people. That’s a lot of 140 character messages competing at a frenetic pace and hoping you will look their way for the split second that they are at the top of your screen (smile). Edge ….LinkedIn.

Putting LinkedIn to Work – Events

thepickards.co.uk

Arrrh! Avast ye lubbers. I just love pirates. I even have a skull and crossbones flag  attached to the inside of the back hatch of my car. The reflection off the glass causes the image to actually float in the air when I look in my rear view mirror (smile). What I really like about pirates though is that they covet the same thing I do……gold. Takes some digging to find it. Sometimes takes a lot of time and effort. But, if treasure is what ye seek, you gots to put out the effort to get to it (smile). I believe that LinkedIn is going to make that enterprise a little more profitable.

This blog has been, for the most part, a lot like my journal. Now it is even going to be more so. So, here is how I spent my weekend:

Goal: I want to use LinkedIn to build membership in our networking group…..NetWorks!

1. I started out by going back to LinkedIn and I took a look at the two local groups that I have joined.  From there, I identified key people that looked like they would share common goals and interests with myself and sent those folks invitations to connect. Acceptances are coming in as I type this post.
2. Proceeded to the Idaho Twitter group and followed every member of that group that had listed their twitter address in a recently posted discussion topic. When in Rome, do as the Romans do (smile). I found it interesting to find a Twitter group on LinkedIn. So did some of the other members. I’m thinking that these folks maybe understand both Business-Social and Social Media.

10 Ways To Build Connections On LinkedIn (6-10)

dreamstime.com

We will now continue on with methods 6 through 10 of ways to build connections with LinkedIn. Before we get started, let’s review numbers 1 through 5: make yourself visible through email signature lines and links to your LinkedIn public profile from other sites; import your email address lists; send out invitations to connect based on your imported address lists; follow LinkedIn’s suggestions of folks that you might want to connect with; take advantage of LinkedIn’s sophisticated search tools to find both people and companies.

As we said in our previous post, LinkedIn is driven by email addresses. Make that email addresses and/or existing relationships. Relationships can be defined as somebody you know, somebody you went to school with, somebody you worked with, or even somebody you know who knows somebody that you want to know. With both an email address and a relationship, the Linkedin world is your oyster (smile). And, away we go beginning with method #6 (please note that these will be numbered 1-5. if anybody can tell me how to start with #6, I would appreciate it):

1. Invite somebody to connect who you either know or do not know. Here is where it gets a little tricky. If you flat do not know this person and you have no connection to this person at all in terms of being related by one of the three degrees, you will likely have to use something called InMail and that will only work if this person accepts InMail. Most importantly, InMail is only available with a paid version of LinkedIn. Very few people I know, including myself, have opted to go the paid route. However, if you have a degree connection, you will be allowed to further identify yourself as a friend or colleague and will be allowed to send a request to connect. At the top right hand corner of each person’s profile, you will be presented with available options which will include one or more of the following: Send InMail, Get introduced through a connection, Add “Fred” to your network.
2. Invite from groups that you both belong to. You have a common interest and this provides you with a relationship that is not even necessarily degree related. Another one of the options you will be presented with in identifying your relationship with this individual is  a shared group and you will be able to identify that group by name.

10 Ways To Build Connections On LinkedIn (1-5)

This is part of a continuing series on LinkedIn. Go to the sidebar on this site to select the “LinkedIn” topic to see previous posts. In our last post, we talked about the importance of building a complete and professional profile. Now that we have that goal accomplished, time to find us some connections (smile). Please keep in mind that you can invite literally anyone with an email address to connect with you on LinkedIn. And, like a lot of social media sites, many of those folks will be more than happy to allow that connection. LinkedIn users, however, do tend to be a little more discriminating. LinkedIn is about business, not social, and if I allow someone to connect with me I may, at my discretion, be allowing them at least visible access to some valuable information. Namely, my connections. Please proceed with this in mind as you start to send out your invitations.

LinkedIn connections are accomplished through sending invitations. Here are methods 1-5 of 10 ways to send yours:

1. Make yourself visible. This is a more passive way about letting others know that you are on LinkedIn, what you are about, and may trigger folks to send you an invitation to connect vs. the other way around. Include a link to your LinkedIn profile on all email signature lines and social media sites like Face Book and Twitter.
2. Import your email address lists from web mail (Gmail, Yahoo, AOL) and Outlook into LinkedIn. These will become part of your “Imported Contacts” folder. Once you have done this, go to that folder (found on the left side bar of your home page) and see what you have. A LinkedIn icon will appear next to each contact who is already a member of LinkedIn. LinkedIn compares email addresses to actual members. However, just a note, somebody you know could be registered with LinkedIn under a different email address that you do not have in your files. Email addresses and/or existing relationships are the components which drives LinkedIn. More on these later.